News

Single accountable officer announcement

12 March 2018

Six clinical commissioning groups have announced Glenn Douglas as their single accountable officer

Glenn Douglas, Accountable Officer

NHS Swale Clinical Commissioning Group is today announcing the appointment of Glenn Douglas as its accountable officer. Mr Douglas will also be accountable officer for the clinical commissioning groups covering Ashford, Canterbury and Coastal, Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley, West Kent and Medway. This is as the result of the six CCGs deciding to work more closely together, with a shared management team and a strategic commissioning function which will lead on work that would benefit from being done once across all the clinical commissioning groups.

Mr Douglas is currently the Chief Executive of the Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) and will maintain this role alongside his new accountable officer duties.

Dr Fiona Armstrong, chair of NHS Swale Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We are delighted with the appointment, which will help ensure we strengthen where the CCGs work together for the benefit of patients and residents across all our areas; and how we work individually on local care plans in each CCG which aim to help people get better access to care and support.

“Glenn is an experienced NHS leader and knows Kent and Medway well. He has already been leading the work on integrating health and social care and helping commissioners and providers to work more effectively together and streamlining strategic decision making.”

Mr Douglas said: “I’m looking forward to the new role. It’s essential that each CCG holds onto local accountability and engagement with clinicians and the public; but it’s also a great opportunity to develop areas where it makes sense to work across the whole patch. By sharing management resources we can maximise the money we have for frontline patient services.”

He was appointed Chief Executive of the Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership in September 2017. Prior to that he was the Senior Responsible Officer for the partnership from its formation in 2016 on a part-time basis alongside his chief executive role at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust which he held for ten years. Prior to this he was chief executive of both Ashford & St Peters Hospitals and Eastbourne Hospital. He has worked in finance and operational management in Sussex, Kent and Manchester. He is an accountant by profession.

Ian Ayres, who was formerly Accountable Officer for NHS West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group, is now Managing Director of Medway, North and West Kent.

Notes to editors:

Strategic commissioning is being developed to lead on areas where it makes sense to plan for the whole population of Kent and Medway.

In the coming months all the CCGs will be involved in the design of where the different functions of commissioning need to sit and how to ensure the local voice of clinicians and patients is heard at the strategic level. We will be working with staff, member practices and lay-members of the CCGs to consider how current functions should be split across a strategic commissioner and individual CCGs. Find out more at https://wp.me/p9xoR6-Up